Native American (everything) Flashcards
the policy of concentration/ reservation
1865
- often on barren non-arable lands
- forced to live of US food rations
- could not leave without permission
- dependent on the government to survive, humiliating
- meanwhile NAs were denied civil rights as they were classified as dependent ‘wards of the state’
- the power of the tribal chief was replaced by an Indian Agent on each reservation, appointed by the BIA
- the Bureau of Indian Affairs was responsible for implementing policies on reservations
- the Indian Ring was a corrupt network of reservation agents that would take subsidies from the government that was meant for Native Americans. This left NAs in poverty
- many NAs died as a result of epidemics of measles, influenza and whooping cough due to a lack of healthcare provided
- by 1900, only about 100,000 of the 240,000 NAs who inhibited the Plains in 1860 remained
the bureau of Indian affairs
- 1865
- the Bureau of Indian Affairs was responsible for implementing policies on reservations
NA numbers in 1900 compared to NA numbers in 1860
1860 - 240,000
1900 - 100,000
the Indian ring
- the Indian Ring was a corrupt network of reservation agents that would take subsidies from the government that was meant for Native Americans. This left NAs in poverty
the destruction of the buffalo
1865
- enforcing concentration and undermining NA culture and land claims
- Majority of great planes tribes were completely dependent on the Buffalo for food, clothing, shelter and equipment.
- So the government hunted buffalo as a way to exterminate NAs, making it a sports competition or making profit off the skins and bones
- They were on the brink of extinction: In 1865 there were about 13 million buffalo on the Plains, by 1883 there were only about 200. In the years 1872-4, about 3 million buffalo killed a year
- This also helped to justify the small space given to NAs on reservations as they didn’t have buffalo to hunt
- The buffalo was central to NA nomadic culture so without the buffalo, they were forced to be more ‘American’ e.g. living in one place
treaties 1865-1868 (6)
- the gold rush in Colorado in 1859 resulted in thousands of whites entering land that was supposed to be guaranteed to the Cheyenne and Arapaho
- 1865 Congress created a joint committee to investigate NAs and authorised a treaty commission to approach the Sioux
- 1865-7 Red Cloud’s War
- 1867 Congress set up a Peace Commission to find a means of ending the fighting. Its report blamed the Plains’ wars mainly on the white people and called for humane treatment of the NAs. This caused Congress to endorse a plan to concentrate all the Plains Indians in two large reservations
- 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty
- 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty
Red Cloud’s War
1865-67
- preservation of Sioux land
- 1865-7 Red Cloud’s War: Lakota Sioux successful resistance to the army’s attempt to build the Powder River Road which would have cut across their land. 82 US soldiers killed
Medicine Lodge Treat: Southern Plains (Cheyenne and Arapaho)
1867
- 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty: federal government offered money and supplies in return for the tribes such as the Cheyenne to accept lands in western Oklahoma
Fort Laramie Treaty: Northern Plains (Great Sioux Reservation)
1868
federal government offered money and supplies in return for the Sioux tribes moving to a reservation in the Black Hills of Dakota. They claimed that the Sioux would have ‘absolute and undisturbed use’ of the Black Hills. This kept the Sioux relatively quiet for several years e.g. in 1870 Red Cloud led his tribe onto a reservation and never again took up arms
Grants peace policy
1869
- forced concentration as precursor to assimilation
- In 1869 Congress established a new civilian Board of Indian Commissioners which would supervise conditions on the reservations, moulding life along the lines that the reformers (not Native Americans) thought best. Therefore he wanted to continue reservation policy and begin assimilation/Americanisation
- In an effort to stamp out corruption, Grant replaced present Indian agents with Quakers and other Protestant denominations
- Colonel Ely Parker, a Native American, was appointed to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs
- however, the new system soon showed itself to be as inefficient as previous systems: there were still large numbers of incompetent and corrupt officials and Parker, suspected on corruption, was forced to resign
- the authorities still found it very difficult to keep white settlers out of NA territory and the 8 years of the Peace Policy were years of savage warfare
the indian appropriations act
1871
- no longer was any group of Indians in the United States recognized as an independent nation by the federal government
- Congress directed that all Indians should be treated as individuals and legally designated “wards” of the federal government
- undermines NA tribal sovereignty
- passed by Congress in 1871, it stated that the US government no longer recognised NA tribes, so tribes lost the right to negotiate treaties. So NAs lost any self-determination they had and decisions on reservations were decided by Congress without consultation
- NAs were treated as individuals - loss of collectivist tribal culture
- NAs were designated as ‘wards’ of the US governmen
Red river war/ buffalo war southern plains
1874-75
- forced concentration
- 1974-5
- Kiowas, Comanches and Cheyennes attacked US wagons and trading posts
- US soldiers destroyed NA supplies and slaughtered Cheyenne fugitives
- With the exile of the ringleaders to reservations, NA independence on the southern Plains ended. Never again did they challenge the policy of Concentration with armed force
- This also allowed the army to give full permission to white buffalo hunters to move onto the southern Great Plains
Great Sioux war northern plains
1876 - 77
- forced concentration
- leads to loss of 33% land on GSR and division of GSR
- the poor supplies from the government, the advance of the North Pacific Railroad, and Colonel Custer’s exploring expedition into the Black Hills caused discontent among the Sioux.
- This caused a large migration of reservation Sioux to the camps of non-treaty tribes
- Colonel Custer and his troops were sent to deal with this
- this caused the Bighorn massacre, where NAs attacked Custer’s force, killing him and his entire command
- more US troops were sent, determined to avenge the Bighorn massacre
- they forced the NAs to surrender and return to the reservations, primarily by attacking and destroying their encampments and property. 265 NAs were killed in total.
Significance of the great sioux war
- ended Sioux resistance to concentration on the Northern Plains
- Black Hills of Dakota was confiscated: ignoring the Fort Laramie Treaty. About one-third of the land granted under the FLT was lost
- the Great Sioux Reservation was divided into five smaller reservations: repression of tribal culture and self-determination
- the Lakota Sioux, who had fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn, were reduced to starvation
Americanization 1877
1877
- policy of assimilation/Americanization: land and education
- aimed to destroy tribal culture and lifestyle and make NAs into productive, individual, Christian farming families that would assimilate into national life
- Christian missionaries worked on reservations to convert NAs to Christianity. But NAs continued to practise their tribal religious rituals in secret
- off-reservation boarding schools for children where boys’ hair was cut short and children endured harsh discipline e.g. solidary confinement for speaking in their tribal language. They also lived with white families where the boys laboured and girls became servants
- after graduating from these schools, employability prospects were poor, with the vast majority returning to reservation life - so not successful at assimilating them into the US
- 1883 Code of Indian Offences restricted the religious and cultural ceremonies of Native American tribes. Some punishable offences were sacred dances and rituals e.g. the Sun Dance, the practice of medicine men and polygamy. The Court of Indian Offences was set up by Congress, thus interfering with the NA criminal justice system, reducing self-determination
Carlisle Indian Industrial School founded
1879
Code of Indian Offences
1883
US v Kagama: confirms Congressional authority over NA affairs; further erosion NA sovereignty
1886
Dawes act (allotment act)
1887
- basis of assimilation until 1934
- acculturation Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Navajo
- 50% land lost by 1900, 70% by 1934
- in 1887 Congress decided to divide up reservation lands into homesteads to be allocated to NA families, ending communal ownership of land and depedency on federal aid
- each head of the family would receive 160 acres of farmland for 25 years in trust, after 25 years they would have full ownership. Further subdivisions of land allotted to single persons or orphaned children
- all NAs farming allotted land would have full rights of citizenship
- unallotted land on reservations would be offered to white Americans
- the Curtis Act, 1898, amended it to extend the allotment system to the five civilised tribes of Oklahoma
percentage of land lost during the dawes act 1900 and 1934
1900 - 50%
1934 - 70%
Impact of the dawes act (land)
- About 3.3 million acres of former reservation lands were granted to individual NAs between 1887 and 1900, whereas 28.5 million acres were sold to whites. Therefore it allowed the majority of land that belonged to NAs to be taken over by whites.
- the Burke Act 1906 made it even easier for NAs to sell their land, eliminating the 25 year trust
- About half of the property retained by NAs was arid or desert land not fit for farming. This meant many NAs could not become self-sufficient, got into debt and were forced to sell their land to white settlers and return to reservations. For example, about two thirds of Cheyenne and Arapaho income came from the sale of inherited allotments and about one third from leasing of allotments.
- NAs whose allotments included productive lands were often cheated out of their lands by whites whose tactics included everything from deceit to murder.
- most NAs also had not lived on farming reservations long enough to easily transition from nomadism to settled commercial farming. This made it more likely for them to lose their land and be forced back to reservations.
- about 50% of NA land lost by 1900 and about 70% lost by 1934
impact of the dawes act (culture)
- individualisation and detribalisation: assault on tribal culture, community and hierarchy by trying to turn NAs into self-sufficient individuals
- Disrespected the culture of matriarchal tribes as it forced land ownership to be in the hands of the men, not the women.
impact of the dawes act (self determination)
- Reforming the reservation system indicates some attempt to improve upon the corrupt actions of the BIA and provide NAs with more self-sufficiency rather than relying on the federal government for basic goods.
- but overall, detrimental for self-determination as many NAs were forced to become American citizens so could no longer have tribal governance. This meant the end of the tribe itself as a political and social entity as American governance was explicitly enforced on them
- Citizenship did not mean de facto voting rights and even if some could vote, the number of NAs who could vote would have been so small that it would have felt pointless. So NAs were prevented from having political power both in their own tribes and in the USA.
the navajo tribe during the dawes act
- The Navajo tribe adapted quickly to farming and conserved the flock of 15,000 sheep and goats provided by the government, so that by 1892 it had grown to 1.7 million.
- Contrary to the experience of other tribes, between 1878 and the 1930s Navajo lands were increased by the Government from 4 million acres to 10.5 million acres.
- The population also grew from 8,000 in 1868 to 22,000 in 1900.
- Therefore, when NAs were given good provisions, success was possible, but this was an exception as NAs were usually given poor land and equipment.
- Also, what makes the Navajo even more of an exception is the fact that they were beginning to develop a more stationary lifestyle and living in permanent homes even before reservations. They were also experienced in livestock, having began to keep small herds of goats well before government grants. This is in stark contrast to most NA tribes and shows that it wasn’t necessarily the Dawes Act itself that caused these positive changes.
Wounded knee
1890
Wounded knee (NA resitance)
- The Ghost Dance was a ritual performed by many NAs. Leaders of the ghost dance preached that the buffalo would return, relatives would be resurrected, and the white man would be cast away if they performed the ghost dance. Therefore they were so desperate for change they had resorted to spiritual rituals as a means of resistance
- divisions between NAs: a Lakota policeman shot Sitting Bull, so he was killed by his own people
- Within a month of Wounded Knee, the 4000 remaining ghost dancers surrendered to General Miles - NA resistance in the West had ended.
wounded knee (attitude of federal government)
- they dispatched 5,000 troops into the area at the sight of the Ghost Dance - no tolerance for practice of NA culture
- in 1890 General Miles ordered his cavalry to intercept Bigfoot, who was not involved in the Ghost dance, was seriously ill and flew a white flag to show his peaceful intentions. Shows the overreaction of the US army
- army confined Bigfoot’s tribe to a creek at Wounded Knee where they were surrounded by cannon and troops confiscated all weapons. When a deaf man could not hear their orders of confiscating his weapon, the soldiers opened fire and hurled exploding shells into the teepees. Again shows the overreaction of the US army
- 150-250 NA men, women and children were killed within minutes. Nearly half of the victims were women and children. The bodies were initially left, and then dumped into a mass grave. Shows the lack of respect for NA life
- the US army awarded medals of honour to the soldiers who committed the massacre. Shows the government’s encouragement of this kind of violence towards NAs
Cherokee nation v Hitchcock
- 1902
- the court ruled that Congress has the right to pass legislation that controls the actions and property of tribes without tribal consent.
